Cats are probably some of the most hyper, inquisitive, and playful animals I know. That said, my little snowshoe Siamese absolutely WILL NOT SIT STILL...ever. We're guessing this particular cat is about two years old, we got her a little over a year ago when she hopped a freight truck from two states away and ended up running wild through the local Wal-Mart. No one had any luck catching her, so after three days they finally figured that just maybe the pets person might know something about catching half-wild cats. Thanks to my childhood around many stray kittens, all of which I devised ways of catching for taming before they got old enough to be set in their human-hating ways, I had her boxed up in an hour. But what to do with her? My husband didn't want another cat, but I brought her home under the pretext of keeping her until another co-worker could take her. As soon as that box was opened that cat disappeared into the closet, stuck a "do not disturb" sign on the door, and started setting up house. We're keeping her. Three months later she let us touch her for the first time, causing an immediate transformation into the cuddliest, most annoyingly social cat I have ever had.

On to the next dilemma...toys. Now that our lovely little Siamese is out and about, she needs things to play with. We quickly discovered we had a "pack cat" who loved to steal silverware, jewelry, eye glasses, and whatever else she could get a hold of if she got bored.

We tried several types of toys, some she liked and some she didn't. Then one evening after work I decided to peruse the clearance cat toys, and ended up bringing home a Cy-Purr Mouse.

The Cy-Purr Mouse is a little plastic battery-powered toy about the size of a standard computer mouse. When a cat jiggles the mouse slightly it sets it off whizzing across the floor shouting "nah nah na na nah" and giggling evilly at the cat that dared touch it. It moves forward about two or three feet, then spins in circles a few times before dashing off again. I believe its tail is supposed to entice a cat to run after it.

This toy caught my eye months before as a potential gag gift for my brother-in-law's cat, but the $7.00 price tag deterred me...that is, until they went on clearance for $3.00 each. I ended up buying one for the brother-in-law, and one to take home to my own cat.

My cat is always curious about things I bring in the door with me upon my return home from work, so it wasn't difficult to draw her attention to the plastic mouse I set in the middle of the floor. She stared at it from all directions, then finally sidled up to it and gave it a tentative bat on the head. Immediately the thing came to life, giggling maniacally and wheeling straight toward her. She jumped straight in the air, fluffed up her tail, then sped off across the room and up onto the talking deer head on the wall (yes, we have one of those, I guess you know you're a redneck when...) where her lofty perch must protect her from the demon mouse that just moved into her home.

I admit to being rather amused by this reaction, though I'm sure the cat didn't think it particularly amusing. While I wiped the mirthful tears out of my eyes, though, the mouse turned on again. I looked to see my youngest dog, an approximately three-year-old Chesapeake bay retriever cross, dancing around open-mouthed in an effort to catch that most intriguing toy. Because of the mouse's gyrations he couldn't quite catch it, but continued to try for over an hour before flopping down and letting it run away and come to rest. A few hours later he was at it again. By now the mouse's constant tauntings and giggles were getting somewhat annoying, but the dog was having so much fun with the thing I didn't have the heart to take it away. Now, a couple months later, he still plays with it whenever he gets a chance. Success! Even if it's not as a cat toy.

Now to the brother-in-law's house. This toy made me think of him because he just bought a house with gorgeous hardwood floors. Floors that his rather large tabby had a fun time learning to negotiate as his normal dashing around resulted in uncontrolled slides into a completely different room from where he intended to be.

Naturally, I couldn't pass up the chance to give him a toy that'd have him scrambling around on the wonderfully slippery new floors. Yes, I suppose I am just a little bit evil. When I first put the toy on the floor the cat just stared at it, so I bopped it on the head myself. As the toy came to life and started its taunting the cat immediately crouched down in preparation for a spring and stared at the intruder. By time it reached its first spins the cat was after it.

As expected this cat did slip and slide after it, but doggedly pursued the intruder in his house for the next couple of hours of entertainment. As much as he enjoyed that mouse, it had another unforeseen bonus...it got the cat up and moving on the hardwood floors, and within three days he'd mastered the slick surface and didn't slide anymore whatsoever. Definite success!

This toy comes with an included watch-type battery. I have not yet had a battery wear out, but if one does it can be easily replaced by taking out the little screw that holds the battery cover in place. I do have a fairly short carpet so the mouse runs fine on it, it also does great on tile and hardwood, but if you have a longer or uneven carpet it probably won't work.

The long and short of it...if your cat enjoys this toy it's definitely worth the full price, even if I was too cheap to pay full price myself. I definitely feel like I got my money's worth out of the two Cy-Purr mice I purchased even though my own cat thinks it's demon possessed. Unfortunately, if you have a cat that doesn't like it and no dog to step in and enjoy it instead, you'll be stuck with an annoying little toy that will need to be either returned or given to another cat for a trial playtime.